Legacy of the Moon
by Lerris
Summary: [Chapter 4 up - Awakenings]A twist on a RanmaSM xover. To prevent its loss, the legacy is passed on.
1. Prologue

Legacy of the Moon 1  
Prologue**  
** by Lerris Smith

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma or Sailor Moon. 

Author's Notes: This is a twist on a Ranma Sailor Moon crossover. Chibi-Usa never existed. This will be a very low priority on my update list if for no other reason I should finish something before working on another. Then again I've said similar things before. If anyone likes the idea and wants to use it, then go for it. This version is my first attempt to use LaTeX for story creation. It should allow easy publishing of pdf/html versions although I am severely limiting the html output to be somewhat compatible with fanfiction dot net's extreme scrubbing of submissions. If there is interest I will eventually release the LaTeX source for others to use. _A characters thoughts are shown this way._

* * *

A year had passed since the failed wedding and things had not improved. The end came not as the gigantic battle that many expected, but quietly, and with a thud as Ranma fell to the ground unconscious. Nabiki later testified to the truth of Ranma's condition. It seems her sister once again fed him dinner with predictable results. Kodachi and Shampoo had gotten to him as well with some kind of new dust and well she had no idea what Shampoo put in the ramen. 

The coma that Ranma fell into seemed to defy treatment. The tests they had done on the sample of Akane's cooking that Nabiki saved as well as the powders found at Kodachi's house after the warrant was given were inconclusive at best. The Amazon's were less helpful to the authorities, only saying that Shampoo had done nothing to harm Ranma. A police search of their residence found nothing. They slipped back to china the second week when it was obvious that Ranma was not getting better. All and all the doctors were a little surprised that Ranma was still alive, given that the monkey they had tested what they found on was not.

With Nabiki's testimony and the videotape she had made of Akane feeding her fiance with a mallet in her hands both Kodachi and Akane were sent for psychiatric evaluation and ended up spending several years in therapy. In time they were released. Ranma was released as well, but to a far more permanent resting place.

* * *

The battle was won but the cost was high, so very very high. It had begun so very long ago. Setsuna was tired of it all. It was not right that she alone had survived the battle. She who was older than any man or woman on the planet. She had seen civilizations rise and fall and even taken part at times sometimes to her regret. 

It always seemed to be those she cared about that paid the price and now was no different. She had manipulated them all to the very end and she was sick of it. Crystal Tokyo was a dream only. The dream gave them hope and courage in their darkest hours but it had not saved them. She had found Crystal Tokyo's possibility so very long ago in the time gates, but as to how to get there, she had very little idea. It was true that she could control it, a little. Sometimes she could see events in the near future, but only sometimes. Things far distant were guesses at best. Still the time gates possibilities gave warning, although sometimes it was about threats that never happened and quite often missed the most dire threats as it had this time.

All of the senshi dead along with Tuxedo Kamen. The magic that had protected and guided their souls to this day and age in this little corner of Tokyo was gone. It was actually depleted a year ago when Sailor Moon had used it to bring the Senshi back to life one final time. There was little time remaining. Her power was linked to the silver crystal and to her princess as were all the rest. Still her link to the time gate remained and she had one last duty to perform and then their spirits would be free. She brought out her time staff and summoned a portal into the past. It had to be him of course. Of all the people in the world, no other had such potential and so little tenancy to abuse that potential. Choosing her for the other was a hard choice, but given the alternatives it was the only real choice possible. There was also a tiny part of her that smiled at placing the potential for a better future in the hands of those deserving of it. At least she hoped things would not turn out the same this time around. She stepped out of the portal into a small nursery that had just received its tenant.

A picture of a horse rearing its defiance to the word was engraved on the side of the small crib. She brought out the star seeds of the others and murmurred an invocation in her native Lunarian tongue. The crystals flashed and then blinked softly as if in sad agreement and then suddenly from the 9 crystals emerged different colored streams of energy. Only a small amount from each one, but in the end producing a small but brilliantly blue new star seed. A gesture later and the star seed drifts down and fades into the chest of the young boy. Setsuna places the other now dim seeds back into her subspace pocket and looked at the boy. _Good, had I not been touching him I would never have sensed its presence. He should not either, until it is his time._ She smiled softly and said, "Good luck Ranma. May you protect them where I no longer can." She then gestured with her staff and opened another portal to a little further in the past.

The newest little Tendo was in her parents room, but no matter. A couple sprays of mist assured that Soun and Kimiko would remain asleep. She then took out all that remained of her friends. "It is time. I will be with you soon." A couple winked softly as if in encouragement or sympathy. Her hand began to glow and she reached into herself and pulled out her own star seed. The others had done almost all they could, yet their energy was nearly spent. Her face contourted in pain yet she emitted not a sound as the agony of being separated from that which had made her immortal and had been with her for so very long. As if sensing the haste required the other star seeds quickly sent off tiny streamers of power as hers sent off a very bright stream before it too faded into nothingness. The others were at rest now. She hoped Kami-sama would smile on them when they arrived. A tiny new star seed sat there glowing a soft green color. A weak gesture from Pluto sent the seed into the sleeping girl. Sailor Pluto smiled a fond smile. She then focused her remaining energy into the staff and commanded it its final duty. A glow of white formed around Pluto freeing the last links she had with the gate, staff, and timestream. The staff then shrunk and vanished into the small girl's body. A few gray hairs appeared in the green haired woman's hair and then a few more. In mere moments she had aged to the physical age of a woman almost 80 years old. _It seems I survived even that._ She cursed her fate as she quietly snuck out of the house.

_Well I hadn't planned for this. Still as long as I am alive, I might as well do what little I can to help them in the future. I have to be careful though._ Too many things were too fragile and she could not risk undoing all the good the Senshi had done. She smiled a sad smile when she remembered how very proud she was of them all. By rights they should have all been killed early on against them. To have won in the end was a miracle in itself, and she would not risk their sacrifice being in vain. What she had planted here would not mature until after the price had been paid. It had to be that way less paradox destroy all their work. It was true that with enough power time could be forced onto a new path, but that was always extremely dangerous and without the silver crystal linkage completely impossible. She had done all she could. The changes set in motion should not conflict with the history that preceded them. It would have to be enough.

She decided to make her way to America. It was far enough away to protect destiny. She was just glad she no longer had to pretend to be the caretaker of it. She hoped she could live long enough to see the final legacy of the moon kingdom emerge once more. She wondered what form it would take. The star seeds planted were week and fragile, yet with time they would grow stronger and they would have that time.

* * *

Author's Notes: I do try to come up with original ideas. Now the difference between coming up with an original idea, or at least a twist on an old one and actually finishing things is quite large. At any rate feel free to review and let me know what you think. The first story I intend to finish is Kitten's hope, and then back to Gravity, and finally a rewrite of my first Ranma Sailor Moon fic. As always if you find mistakes let me know. I did read over this, but it is easiest to miss ones own mistakes.

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2005-02-15 


	2. Divergence

2. Divergence **Legacy of the Moon   
** by Lerris Smith

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma or Sailor Moon. 

In the past, Setsuna once again pondered what they had done. There was no hope of resurrection for any of the Senshi. It was true that she could have lived a very long time on just the stabilizing presence of being linked to the remaining energy stored in the time gates. She had long ago sworn her loyalty to her queen and her people. Duty was at the core of her being, and she would not forsake it now just to extend her already overly long life. The silver crystal was gone, its energy used up and its matrix shattered in Sailor Moon's final strike. In hindsight it seemed very foolish to be so dependent on the crystal's stabilizing influence. Without that link her power was very limited as were her options. Her final trips through time used almost all that remained. The star seeds of the others were badly weakened by the battle and their subsequent deaths yet they gladly gave their remaining energy to create new star seeds for Ranma and Nabiki in the hopes of a better future. She prayed it would be enough. The loss of the moon kingdoms children left a void in the balance of good and evil. Two seemed such a small number to fill that void. Two to carry the last of their Legacy. She hoped they would understand or at least forgive them someday for what she had done.

* * *

The wedding came and went and nothing changed, and to Ranma that was perhaps the most depressing of all. Worse Akane seemed to get more distrustful as time passed, often malleting him simply because she suspected he might be doing something and not bothering to wait for a situation she could misinterpret. At times he wished he could understand, but more and more he wished that he just didn't have to deal with her anymore. She never learned. The few cute moments that he remembered fondly were few and far between. They just weren't enough to make up for the rest. He could not remember any fond memories of her anymore that were not tainted by his own imagination picturing her and her mallet. It had taken a long time but in the end she had killed what might have been. 

When Nabiki offered to reduce his debt in return for helping with some business she had in Jubaan he jumped at the chance just to get out of the gorilla's aura of hate. The meeting went off without a hitch with Nabiki's obviously American associate. She gave him a few video tapes and he wrote her a check which she quickly pocketed. Given that she had been taping all of his fights recently he figured she found someone to buy them. That was fine with him, but it did have the tendancy to attract the crazy challengers. 

"So do my fights sell well?" 

"Yep and thanks to you being there in person the guy didn't try to offer me less for them." 

He didn't ask what she was doing with the money. He had found out long ago that Nabiki spent very little on herself. It all went to pay bills and provide Kasumi money to buy groceries. They began their walk back to the train station when it began. Nabiki began to glow a soft green color and collapsed shrieking in pain. Sweat began to pour forth from her face and body as her screams began to gather the attentiion of those nearby as they turned to see what was going on. Ranma was beginning to panic. He had no idea what was going on. The glow definitely was not normal and whats worse he could not sense the glow which meant it wasn't ki. He reached down to pick her up and suddenly as his hand touched her shoulder a visible blue wave of energy passed between them and the glow dimmed and Nabiki's screaming stopped. Ranma was so surprised that he let go, only to have the glow intensify until Nabiki desperately grabbed him. Her grip reminded him of a certain Amazonian warrior's. 

"Are you ok?" 

"Ya just get me out of here and to Dr. Tofu or something." 

Ranma reached over and lifted her up into his arms and jumped on the top of a building. He began roof hoping his way back to Nerima. He knew it would be tiring, but the trip should have been relatively easy for him, and somewhat faster than the train since he could manage a direct non stop route. He was surprised a few minutes later when he realized he could no longer keep up and jumped down to a small alley with a bench next to a telephone. He sat her down carefully on the chair and started to get up when Nabiki grabbed ahold of him. 

"Oh no you don't. Last time you let go it hurt like crazy and I could feel it beginning this time as well." 

"Oh. Sorry about that. I was going to call Dr. Tofu." 

"What's wrong? Why did you stop?" 

"Tired. I don't know why, but I couldn't continue." 

"You, Saotome admitting you're tired? Just a sec I'll call him on my cell." Nabiki fumbled and pulled a cell phone out of her pocket. 

"Doc Tofu" 

"Hello Nabiki. You don't sound well. Is everything ok?" 

"Something weird is going on. I started glowing and then there was pain. The pain mostly went away when Ranma touched me, but then Ranma mysteriously couldn't manage to roof hop for more than a few minutes." 

"That is odd. Where are you? I'll come get you in my car." 

Nabiki gave him the address and hung up the phone. It was beginning to get chilly outside or at least that was the excuse Nabiki planned for why she snuggled closer to Ranma. For some reason it just felt right. Before long she had fallen asleep. 

About fifteen minutes later a car's headlights could be seen and a person's footsteps could be heard. Ranma felt for the familiar ki signature he expected and did not find it. Instead he felt the signature of a woman older than Kho Lon. He frowned slightly and wondered if something was affecting his senses as a very old woman, perhaps in her nineties walked slowly towards them. 

"Hello Ranma. I bet you are wondering what is going on?" 

Ranma yawned and then cursed himself internally. He hadn't meant to show weakness, especially when he was. "Um ya." 

A car door could be heard closing and soon enough Dr. Tofu ran up to Nabiki and started to pull her away so he could check her. Nabiki's sleeping form clung to him tenaciously. 

"Doc, I'm not sure thats a good idea. She feels pain when she isn't touching me." 

"Oh. Sorry. I forgot." Dr. Tofu reeched out and checked her pulse. He felt her head and then thumbed an eyelid open. "Hmm. Well she may have a slight fever. I can't explain the dim blueish green glow around you two since it isn't ki. She's also in a very deep sleep, and so far I can't explain any of it." 

The old woman smirked slightly as she sat down beside Ranma and Nabiki on the last space available on the bench. "I can." She looked at Dr. Tofu. "but its a secret." 

"You can trust the Doc." 

The old woman titled her head slightly to the side as if in acknowledgement. "They should be ok with time. The explanation is not for here though. My place isn't far. There is room in my car if you wish." 

"We will ride with the Doc." Ranma had to fight off a yawn as he carried Nabiki to Dr. Tofu's car. He fell asleep long before they arrived at the old woman's house. 

The woman got out of her car and noticed the sleeping pair through the car window. She turned to face Dr. Tofu. "Can you carry them both at the same time? They need rest and will sleep more comfortably in a bed." 

"I can, as long as it isn't too far." 

The old woman unlocked the door and led them inside and down a hall into a large exquisitely decorated bedroom with a large four poster king size bed. She pulled the cover back and Dr. Tofu layed them gently down and recovered them. 

"I wouldn't ordinarily let anyone use my bedroom, but they must be heavy and I wouldn't want you to have to carry them upstairs." 

"Yes, they were getting a bit heavy. So would you mind telling me what is going on? If I thought it would do any good I would call an ambulance and have them in a hospital." 

"Come, I will make tea. It is a long story." 

They made their way into the kitchen where she ran water right out of small faucet a little ways away from the normal one into a small pitcher and dropped a few tea bags keeping hold of the strings. Much to Dr. Tofu's surprise the water was steaming. "I didn't think water from a faucet was supposed to be that hot." 

"I had a separate instant hot water heater installed for that faucet. When your old you learn to make things as easy as possible." She removed the teabags and filled two small glasses setting them neatly on the table. She then sat down, followed quickly by Dr. Tofu. She drank a bit while hiding a small smile behind her glass. 

"You were going to explain." 

Her smile spread a little and then she quickly returned her face to neutral. "They say patience is a virtue. First things first though." Her voice rose a little in volume. "Luna, Artemis could you come here please?" 

Soon enough a black and a white cat walked into the kitchen and seeing the stranger meowed and rubbed up against the old woman's leg. 

"Oh come now you two. From what little I know about Dr. Ono Tofu, I doubt he will be too surprised by talking cats." 

The black cat spoke, "What the heck is going on Setsuna? Was that them?" Dr. Tofu blinked but didn't say anything. 

Setsuna smiled a small smile. "Yes it was. Now go and keep watch on them and make sure Ranma doesn't see you." The black cat walked off leaving Artemis to stare off at her retreating form. 

Setsuna sighed and turned back to the doctor. "Have you ever heard of the Sailor Senshi?" 

"Yes, I have one of the Jubaan newspapers forwarded to me to keep track of the odd goings on around here. For awhile, I thought it was some scam until I talked to one of my colleagues." 

"Your colleague, a Dr Mizuno recently lost a daughter did she not?" 

"Yes just about a month ago. She was killed when some of those Youma Juuban is famous for attacked the city." 

"That is true, but it isn't all the truth. The Sailor Senshi are dead. Almost no one knows of it because their transformations failed when they were killed. When their bodies were found they just assumed that it was just some unfortunate school girls who were in the wrong place at the wrong time." 

"Your kidding? Dead?" 

The white cat jumped up on the table. "No, she is not. All save one are dead, and that one no longer a Senshi. I failed her. I failed Mina." 

Dr. Tofu stared at the cat as if remembering his presence. It just didn't seem right to hear such sad words coming from the white cat's mouth. 

"No you did not. If anyone failed it was I. Perhaps I should have insisted they train harder or get more help from the military or.. I don't know, but I do know that they did not die in vain. Had that last group of aliens managed to gain much more power the world would have been crushed." 

Dr. Tofu blinked. This seemed to be an old conversation repeated almost as if wanting or fearing parts of it were true, or perhaps just because they couldn't accept the outcome so kept talking about it as if in doing so it could be changed. It was something he saw too often when people were really sick or they had other life changing problems. Dr. Tofu decided to try to get them back on topic. It couldn't hurt to change the subject after all. 

"So how does this concern Ranma and Nabiki?" 

Artemis spoke, "They carry with them the Senshi's last gift to our world. The Sailor Senshi are the reincarnated royalty from so very long ago that its existence has faded even from legend" He went on to explain the basic history of the Moon Kingdom. "... When the battle had ended all but one Senshi was dead including the reborn prince of Earth. Sailor Pluto alone had survived the battle, using her timesense to avoid what would have normally killed anyone." 

Setsuna continued, "I took the power that remained in the time gates and traveled to the past infusing and hiding the Senshi's remaining energy from their star seeds and the energy from my own in the sleeping pair when they were but newly born. You must understand that when the Senshi were created at the height of the Moon Kingdom's power they had an army of engineers and mages involved in the design and creation of the crystal matrix that gives them power and long life. This is good in that their were no side effects. It gave them near immortality, strength, speed and easily controlled magical attacks. It is bad since because so much was predefined their actual use of power was pretty much limited to that which was provided by their respective matrixes. It also relied on a link to a now destroyed magical artifact to provide stability and control. This time was different. Only two things guide the formation of the magic within them now, well technically four in Ranma's case. The first is the slight residual traces of the Senshi's spirit that remained bound to that power. The second is their own life forces. As they have grown their life forces have shaped and molded that power, but until today it has remained hidden even from themselves. In Ranma's case two other magical signatures have probably interacted." 

"His curse." added Dr. Tofu. 

"and the Nekoken." Magic is called in that ritual. Old magic. The ritual magic invoked in the Nekoken is thousands of years old. I suppose that is still young by Moon Kingdom standards, but the bottom line is even after an additional seventeen years researching it I know little. Most subjects go insane and stay that way, yet in Ranma's case it seems somewhat beneficial. I have no idea how or if either of those two things will interact with their moon kingdom legacy. 

"If you had no idea what would happen then why did you do it to them?" Dr. Tofu found this whole thing unbelievable. A doctor's first commandment was do no harm yet she had done who knows what to two of his closest friends. 

"The Senshi provided a balance that was needed. While my view of the future was never what I wanted it to be, in most of the timelines where the Senshi were lost the future of Earth was also lost. Yes I took a risk. Yes I would do it again, because it was necessary." 

"But why Ranma and Nabiki? Surely there were others.." 

"Yes there were a few nearly as powerful as Ranma and even a few more powerful such as the dragon child Herb or Saffron. They were also easily corrupted and a poor foundation to pin the worlds hopes on. For that matter Ryoga was near Ranma's level yet can you imagine him with more power and a an eternal life?" 

"He would just use it to fight Ranma and what ever other idiocy he blames for his failures. Ok, I'll buy that, but then why Nabiki?" 

"That was a harder choice, but in the final analysis Ranma deserved a chance at happiness as did whoever else was chosen. Can you actually ever see Ranma and Akane getting along? Or Shampoo? Or Ukyo? " 

"Well maybe Ukyo, but she only dreams of the perfect Okonomiyaki restaurant." 

"Exactly. Nabiki was not exactly a perfect choice, but she was intelligent, quick witted, surprisingly selfless, and agile, and I thought they at least had a chance. Since they are effectively immortal, or at least I hope they are, Nabiki will hopefully have time to gain whatever skills she lacks in battle." 

"I wonder why Nabiki was the first one affected." 

"She is older and I suspect Ranma's other exposures to magic may have acclimated him some already. Regardless from what little I can still sense they are both affected now. Each is providing the other balance. The strongest and most enduring of magics have always been created by the joining of the talents and power of both men and women. When the magic of the Senshi was first created it was planned to eventually give similar power to their chosen lifemates, so together they could better defend and protect their respective peoples, but Beryl's attack destroyed that plan." 

"So what do we do now?" 

"Something I have a great deal of practice with. We wait. You might need to feed them with a feeding tube or intravenously if it takes too long, but in time they should recover and find balance of a rough sort. It is essentially a life giving magic after all, so everything should" Luna ran back in the room interrupting Setsuna, "Something happened. You should come see this. Ranma turned into a woman." Dr. Tofu, Setsuna, and Artemis got up to follow frenzied black cat. 

Dr Tofu said, "I wonder how Ranma managed to get wet this time." 

"Thats just it, he didn't. He just glowed brighter for a moment and then changed." 

They glanced over the sleeping pair that were even now unconsciously embracing each other. Had the youngest Tendo saw the picture, the conclusion would have been foreordained. Setsuna snapped a picture with a digital camera that was sitting on her dresser. Dr. Tofu looked at her as if in question. She said, "I keep a scrapbook." 

Dr. Tofu nodded and began examining the pair, "Nabiki seems relatively unchanged, at least on the outside, while Ranma's female form has aged, to somewhere around his real age or perhaps a touch older. Its interesting that she is almost as tall as Nabiki now. I wouldn't have expected that." 

Setsuna was amazed that Dr. Tofu was calmly cataloging the changes and apparently missing the point altogether. She sighed. She was definitely getting too old. "They seem fine. Artemis can watch them for awhile, and I for one am getting a bit tired of standing so I think I'll go back to my tea." 

Dr. Tofu looked at them for a bit more and finding everything well if not normal at least normal by Ranma standards. He sighed. He was definitely not looking forward to when Ranma woke up. He went to rejoin Setsuna. After he sat down and had another drink of tea she said, "It may be best that we consider carefully what we are going to tell them." 

Dr. Tofu nodded. He remembered hearing all about the battle with Herb the last time he was locked as a woman. The fact that Ranma managed to destroy a mountain plus the likelihood that Ranma would be stronger now was unpleasant to contemplate. "I'll go back to my office and get some tranquilizers just in case."

* * *

Author's Notes: While I haven't written more yet, if you believe that I'm trapping Ranma as a woman forever and ever well don't give up just yet. Things are seldom that simple. If anyones curious this is about the third rewrite of this chapter. I just didn't like the ideas I first had. Another chapter on Kitten's Hope or possibly Gravity will likely be next. I might finish this in one chapter, although its really hard to say where the end is until one writes it or at least plots it out in detail. Please review and let me know what you think. If there is interest I may post and update the pdf of this on the geocities web site. Creating the pdf now only requires hitting alt-f1, but unless someone officially wants that form I see no reason to go through the trouble of uploading to the web site every chapter as well. By the way if you really want to know what I'm planning for our pig tailed hero you'll have to guess or wait till chapter three. ;)

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2005-02-23 


	3. Rebirth of a Legacy

3. Rebirth of a Legacy **Legacy of the Moon   
** by Lerris Smith

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma or Sailor Moon. 

Akane was in the dojo demonstrating the effectiveness of her art against another sack of defenseless bricks. She yelled, "That darn Ranma!" breaking through a stack of four bricks as she finished his name. _When he gets back I'll make him pay for seducing my sister!_ An hour later the floor was covered in brick debris and the supply of bricks Nabiki had just ordered was now lose gravel on the floor. 

Dinner came prompting Genma Saotome and the rest of the Tendo's to gather around the table. 

"Oh my, has anyone seen Ranma or Nabiki? I hope they are alright. Dinner will get cold." 

"The pervert tricked my sister to go out with her." 

"Saotome, how dare your son betray my poor little Akane." 

"Oh woe is me. Why have the gods cursed me with such an unfaithful son?" 

A slight grimace passed through Kasumi's face and was as quickly gone. No one here noticed it. No one ever had, except Nabiki, once. "I thought Nabiki said she had some business to take care of this morning. I'm sure they are alright after all she does have Ranma-kun to protect her." 

"That baka. He'd better keep his paws off my sister." 

"Oh no, my daughter's fiancée is being unfaithful with my other daughter." Soun continued to wail, while Kasumi moved dishes away from him to prevent ruining what little food Genma had not already devoured. Kasumi was glad she set some aside for the pair, but she was beginning to worry. _Where could they be?_ She continued to wonder and worry as she finally surrendered to the inevitability of sleep that night. 

Breakfast came and went with Akane once more promising to track down her errant fiancée and make him pay. The small black pig that had shared her bed last night nodded with every word she said as she left for school.

* * *

Later that morning the disciples of Happosai were playing anything goes shogi. 

"Oh no, my baby is still missing." 

"What's to worry about? Nabiki is a big girl. She can take care of herself. Besides she has my boy with her. Who knows maybe they went to get married." 

Soun shouted with glee, "My baby girl is getting married." as Genma repositioned several pieces. Soun then seemed less certain and asked, "Do you really think so Saotome?" 

"Well they haven't been home so they must have been doing something." 

"Quite right Saotome. The schools will be joined. I'll call the priest. When they get back we can have the wedding." Genma rearranged the rest of the board while Soun's attention was absent. 

Kasumi pondered commenting on how easily they simply ignored the engagement between Ranma and Akane in favor of one they thought had a better chance to succeed. _Maybe Nabiki and Ranma do have a better chance. Then again just about any girl that doesn't beat on him with a mallet, bombori, or spatula stood a better chance. Still its probably not a good idea to let this get too far out of hand._ Kasumi smiled sweetly and said, "Oh my. Shouldn't we find the bride and the groom first before calling the priest?" In truth her slight interference was probably unnecessary since the hapless duo had never figured out the phone book in the house was fake. Kasumi wondered how Nabiki had managed an apparently genuine phone book with all the phone numbers that might be useful for a wedding replaced with Nabiki's own contacts. It was really a quite an impressive feat. _Now how many times has it been? Five? Six? No, seven I think, and they never figure out why everyone is suddenly busy. Of course there were always bar phone books, as the failed wedding adequately demonstrated, although Nabiki apparently had fixed that issue afterward. Still, it was best to make sure this didn't go too far. There was always the chance they would go to a new bar and last minute plans were sometimes messy, as the failed wedding once again demonstrated._

"She has a point Saotome. I know what we will do." 

"Operation Soun and Genma's marry the children." 

"I know just where to look. Kasumi can I get some money for our investigations?" 

"Sure father. I'll go get it." 

Kasumi regretted supporting the duo's bar tab with the money Nabiki worked so hard to make, but the alternative seemed worse. "Good luck. Call if you find them." Kasumi let out an inaudible sigh as the pair walked out the door. At times she wondered just how faithful her mother was. It would explain much. She chastised herself for having such negative thoughts about her own father as she went out the door to talk with Dr. Tofu and see if he had seen them. 

Before long she arrived at his office, only to see a sign on the door saying that "Due to unforeseen circumstances the clinic will be closed for a short while." It went on to suggest that everyone consult Nerima General hospital if necessary. _How very odd. I wonder if this is related._ She let out a small sigh and headed back home. She would see Dr. Tofu another day. A small smile graced her face as she thought of all the strange antics Dr. Tofu would pull to get some time alone with her. _He truly was a sweetheart._

* * *

Dr. Tofu was getting worried. It had now been three days since Nabiki and Ranma lapsed into what was essentially a very deep sleep. He was surprised at how well they instinctively drank when he carefully gave them water or Gatorade. Oh they didn't hold the cup or anything, but they swallowed much better than unconscious people are supposed to. He had expected to have to hook up an IV, but they were drinking more than enough for now. Heck they even managed to drink thin nutritional milkshakes which was unheard of for anyone unconscious. Still, other than their odd ability to drink anything put to their lips, they were largely unresponsive. It was most odd. 

He tried running hot water over a towel and then wiping Ranma's face with it. Dr. Tofu was about half expecting it, but it still came as a bit of a surprise when Ranma stayed female. 

"Patience doctor. They are healthy are they not?" came from Setsuna who had just entered the room. 

"Yes. I can't find anything physically wrong with them. The dim blue-green glow is odd of course and the fact that they won't wake up..." 

"They will recover. I'm more worried about how his curse has interacted. If he is truly trapped female. I just hope that is not the case, since if it is..." 

"I know. I have watched first hand his life the last couple years while you have only payed attention to it... What were the words you used? 'because of his entertainment value"' 

"Hey, that was just at first." 

Dr. Tofu snickered.

* * *

Days passed and Akane seemed to be taking things in stride. Indeed she seemed happier than normal. The other fiancées were on the warpath, but thanks to what Akane said at school, they were all after the mercenary girl who was also nowhere to be found. 

Kho Lon was annoyed. A mere man was making a mockery of Amazon law and that could not be allowed. Worse she could no longer sense his presence anywhere in the area, yet somehow she was fairly sure he was alive. Still Ranma had been entertaining. Certainly far more entertaining than the drudgery of the Amazon council. She sighed. If Xian Pu didn't stop taking hours on every delivery searching for her Airen she was going to have to hire more help.

* * *

Xian Pu was waiting outside the Tendo Dojo. It was mid morning and she had just delivered some ramen in record speed before hiding here. Soon enough her target emerged and began her daily journey to Dr. Tofu's office. She followed silently and hid a short time later as the building came in sight. She saw the sign on the door flip to showing closed. Before long, Dr. Tofu walked out the door and spotted Kasumi. "Kasumi. How nice to see you here." 

Xian Pu, in her surprise, almost forgot to keep her aura suppressed. _Why is he acting normally around too too nice girl?_

"It is good to see you too Ono." They had now reached the entrance to the clinic and Dr. Tofu was getting his keys back out. Xian Pu was nowhere to be seen. "Have you seen Ranma-kun or Nabiki? We have been worried about them." 

Both Xian Pu and Kasumi caught his momentary jump in surprise. Xian Pu looked around for a way to get closer without being noticed. 

"Where are my manners? Come in Kasumi, and let me make you some tea. It has been awhile since we have had a chance to talk." Xian Pu kept to the shadows and found a spot on the other side of the clinic where she hoped to be able to listen from near the open window. Dr. Tofu made no effort to change the sign from closed to open. 

"You know something." It was not a question. 

"They are fine Kasumi. I'm sorry for not letting you know." 

"What are you hiding Ono? Its just us." 

Dr. Tofu looked around as if unsure about something, but he seemed to lose his train of thought as his eyes passed over Kasumi. "Of course. Well I guess you can come see them, but I think its best to keep their location secret for now." 

Xian Pu continued to follow them from as far away as she dared. It was especially hard when Dr. Tofu started driving, but she managed to just barely keep up via roof hopping. Still, she dared not get closer. She could not risk Dr. Tofu sensing her presence, not when Airen may need her, and especially not when Mercenary Girl may be seducing her Airen. She still didn't really understand that, but the rumor was all over the school yesterday when she had spied on Akane and her friends. _Well at least Kitchen Destroyer seems to be out of the picture. She seemed my only competition and with her anger she didn't stand a chance._ Shampoo smiled wickedly as she remembered all the subtle promptings she did to encourage Akane's anger. Grandmother would be proud. 

Before long they came to a large house with a fenced in driveway. Dr. Tofu pressed something on the ceiling of his car and suddenly the fence opened and he drove in. The door closed before Xian Pu could enter, but hopping over the fence presented no problems. 

Kasumi and the doctor entered the house to be greeted by Setsuna. "Hello doctor. Hello Kasumi. My name is Setsuna Meio." Setsuna frowned slightly as she said the latter. She had partially gotten out of the habit of hiding all her emotions since she become mortal again. She regretted that slip. 

In response to the unasked question Dr. Tofu added, "Kasumi saw me at my office and wanted to see Ranma and her sister." 

"Pleased to meet you Meio-san." Kasumi bowed to their hostess. 

"They are this way Kasumi." Kasumi followed the doctor and saw Ranma-chan nestled next to Nabiki, both wearing hospital gowns and apparently little else, although judging by the bulges around their wastes they had something covering them there. 

"Oh my. What is going on?" 

"They collapsed." 

Dr. Tofu's words were cutoff by the sound of a door being shattered. "Where is my Airen?" She stalked past Setsuna and the cats until she saw the open door and ran in. She saw Ranma and Nabiki in bed together loosely holding each other. _How dare that bitch._ She raised her bombori in preparation to rid herself of an obstacle once and for all, when she suddenly collapsed. Just before Xian Pu collapsed Nabiki shifted in her sleep away from where Xian was, incidentally dragging a red head with her. This caused her hospital gown to flip partially open allowing Kasumi to see the rest of her clothing such as it was. 

Dr. Tofu eased her to the floor as Setsuna came in and said, "Well that was unexpected." 

"What about my sister and Ranma-kun?" 

"They are fine Kasumi. First we have to deal with Xian Pu. That pressure point won't last long." 

Just as Dr. Tofu finished speaking Artemis came in with a small bottle in his mouth and dropped it in front of Dr. Tofu. "Setsuna's sleeping pills. I thought..." 

Dr. Tofu nodded and read the bottle quickly. He then placed one in her mouth and hit a point to force her to swallow. "I'll carry her upstairs. With any luck she should stay asleep for at least a few hours." Before long the doctor had returned and rejoined the others who were in the living room drinking tea, with the exception of the cat's who were drinking milk. The doctor took a seat. "As I was saying they are fine or at least they will be." 

"They are in diapers!" 

Dr. Tofu scratched the back of his head. "Well, they have been asleep a long time and sooner or later you.. Besides it was less invasive than other methods, and with Ranma's curse.." 

"Ono." said Kasumi in a slightly irritated tone. It hurt that Ono was obviously trying to hold things back from her, especially about her sister. "I need to know Ono. She is my sister and I care for Ranma like a brother." Dr. Tofu sighed. He really did not like being in such positions. 

Setsuna spoke up. "Ranma fought one of the odd youma we have in Jubaan. He tried to protect Nabiki from the blast but only managed to deflect part of it. They just need time to rest and will be fine. Dr. Tofu managed to carry them here since it was close, and since it seemed a bad idea to let all his enemies know he was injured we have kept Ranma here." 

Kasumi nodded. The words sounded reasonable and she couldn't detect any deception in her tone or features. A glance at Ono was enough to confirm it was a lie. She really did know him too well for his own good. _Ono wouldn't lie to me without a good reason, so I guess I can go along with it for now._ "What are you going to do about Xian Pu?" 

Dr. Tofu sighed. "I still have the information on the Amazon memory erasure techniques and the ingredients for the Xian Pu. I could give you a ride back to Nerima along the way." 

Kasumi pondered. If she was not back soon the others would get suspicious and maybe make matters worse. She really wanted to stay here and look after Nabiki and Ranma-kun though. There was also the possibility of getting information from this Setsuna. Still, it would do no good if she brought trouble down on them. "Ok Ono. Do you need help with Xian Pu?" 

"No, I can get her." 

Kasumi got home before any of the others, although it was a close thing. Dinner would be a simple affair tonight as she didn't have much time to cook and get the household chores done. Xian Pu was dropped off a little ways away from the Nekohaten. Ono knew she would wake up soon and hopefully not remember much about this day. Still it was trouble. The gap in her memory might alert Kho Lon and undo all he had done. Worse, it might make Kho Lon an enemy and she knew the antidote as well. 

Xian Pu awoke and wondered where she was. She remembered searching for Ranma but the memories were vague. Still nothing much happened today so she might as well turn in. Hopefully tomorrow would be more productive. She just knew Kasumi would eventually lead her to something.

* * *

It was nearly a week from the time Ranma and Nabiki first entered their near coma state to when they finally awakened. Ranma looked around and saw she was leaning into Nabiki's side near her left breast that was only covered with a very thin blueish gray hospital gown. Ranma tossed the covers off in his hurry, to get out of what to him was a very bad situation. Ranma knew this was a bad situation since it had happened more than a few times in the past, usually as a result of Kodachi or Shampoo sneaking into his bed. Ranma's movement and the departure of the covers woke Nabiki who instinctively glared in the general direction of the disturbance to her rest. _Whoever woke me up is going to pay. Now I'll never know if the corporate takeover worked._ Her eyes focused and she realized it was Ranma. _Odd._ She continued to think how very odd this was when she began to notice a few things. First, she was in a bed with Ranma and both of them were in hospital gowns. After the two instinctively separated a few feet she patted the only other piece of clothing she had on through her gown and realized the second thing. She was in a diaper. _How the heck did I get involved in the Ranma weirdness swirl? Oh look he is cringing expecting to be hit. Chalk about another causality to my little sister's paranoia, although admittedly this does look bad._ Then she remembered how she got sick and Tofu and someone else. _So we are better now I guess, and um by the feel of things I need a shower badly and why do I get the feeling that there is danger nearby?_

Ranma who was too lost in thought to try to come up with a credible excuse that would not leave her penniless, completely missed the play of emotions playing across the middle Tendo's briefly unguarded face. Ranma was caught up by the sense of something wrong as well. "Somethings up. I better go check it out." 

Nabiki was confused. _That wasn't my imagination? Since when do I have a spider sense?_ She didn't understand what she was feeling, yet she was sure about it, especially since Ranma felt it too. "I know. Take me with you." 

"What, are you crazy? Whatever it is is dangerous. Why would you want to go?" 

"I just need to somehow. I don't know why. Just do it Ranma, or do you want me to tell Akane that you were snuggling up to me?" 

Ranma blanched. "Um ok, but just stay out of the way." 

Nabiki grumbled, "I am not stupid, but first we had better put some clothes on." 

Ranma blushed as he caught a view of Nabiki's shapely legs and back as she got up out of bed. 

_Teasing Ranma is fun, especially when there is no Akane around to beat Ranma up for it._ Both of them hastily put on the nearby clothing with Ranma refusing to turn around until Nabiki said, "Let's go." 

Ranma quickly opened the large window and helped Nabiki out and soon enough Ranma was roof hopping towards a medium sized park while carrying Nabiki. 

"We are still in Jubaan." 

"Ya." 

"And we smell. What the heck happened to us?" 

"I don't know." The rest of what Ranma might have said was cut off as he arrived at the park only to find bodies scattered around the ground and something vaguely female that looked to be mostly made of water. Nabiki rapidly sought cover fighting off the temptation to become ill. She was sure there was something she could or should be doing, but she had no idea what. She didn't even have a cell phone with her. 

Ranma ran over and tried to spin kick it, but her foot went through knocking her off balance. Ranma was then pulled inside the water comprising the youma's body. She couldn't move or breathe and was getting weaker. _Gotta do something.. Nabiki is out there._ She brought her battle aura out to try to boil away the water or weaken it in some way, but it had little effect other that making the water really hot. It didn't even change Ranma back to his male form, but he was too busy to notice this right then. 

Nabiki looked on. Ranma was going to die unless she did something. Suddenly Ranma's battle aura was out. _Had it ever been that large before?_ Nabiki looked around and saw a softball and bat lying next to a body. She tried to remain mostly behind the trees as she grabbed the ball and threw the ball at the monsters face in a vain attempt at distracting it. The monster smacked the ball aside, but the damage had been done. It saw Nabiki and moved across the intervening space almost before Nabiki was done with the throw. Ranma saw the distance to Nabiki shrinking fast and did the only thing he could. She had risked a lot to try to distract it and he had a debt to pay. He wondered if she could ever pay all her debts briefly before falling deeply into the Soul of Ice in an attempt to freeze the water around her. It was a desperation move since the ice would likely kill her as well. She could see the ice forming as she closed her eyes instinctively to protect them. A few seconds later and it was done. Nabiki was safe. She tried to break free but the ice was too tough and she was too weak. She suspected whatever she was fighting had drained her sort of like Hinako could, but knowing that did her little good. 

Nabiki was beating on the outside of the ice with her fists and feet for almost a minute before she remembered the bat. Her hands were bruised and bleeding from several places as she she tried to chip away the ice from Ranma's body. Unfortunately, the ice was too hard and only little pieces came off. 

Ranma sensed Nabiki was near and crying for her? She wished there was a way for her to survive this. She clawed with her remaining energy to reach something, some hope to get out. She felt something warm she had not felt before and embraced it as a falling man will cling to the last few tuffs of grass to prevent falling over a cliff. 

Suddenly energy rushed into her body causing her to grow taller as her body shifted back to his birth gender. This change in size burst the ice and scattered it in many directions causing additional cuts to Nabiki's arms and face. An elegant black tuxedo formed around his body, complete with a red rose in the breast pocket. He stepped out of the remainder of the ice and went over to check on Nabiki who had fallen backwards. 

Nabiki didn't know what to make of it. "Ranma? Is that you?" 

"Ya. Its me." 

"That's some outfit you have there Saotome." 

Ranma looked down at himself and groaned. "What the heck is this? I can't fight in this? I look like a complete and total idiot." 

Nabiki smiled a catty smile. "I don't know. I think you look pretty good. Now if I only had a camera..." 

Ranma continued to groan as he took the top hat off and jumped on it. The dang thing wouldn't even stay smashed. 

As Ranma was attempted to destroy his hat, the pieces of ice had melted and reformed into a puddle that was reforming into its original shape. 

Ranma sensed something heading his way, so he dived forward and rolled out of the way. In the corner of his eye he saw a spike of water fly past. _Not good. Well how am I going to kill it now?_ He saw Nabiki take cover and mentally thanked the gods that at least one woman was not stupid enough to try to jump into a no win situation. For some reason he had this incredible temptation to take the rose out of his inside pocket and throw it at the monster. He promptly stepped on the temptation hard and forgot about it. _There is just no way in hell I'm ever gonna throw flowers in a fight._

Ranma dodged several more times as he searched for ideas on how to end this threat once and for all. He fired a quick, low powered Moko Takabisha, only to see the water open up and for it to pass harmlessly through itself. _Unless I can distract it or something, so it doesn't see it coming..._ The dodging continued, but sooner or later Ranma knew the ice bolts the thing was sending out would hit and he would be in trouble. 

Nabiki hated being helpless, but there was no way she could even keep up with the dodging. She looked around for something useful against, well whatever it was. She thought it must be some kind of Youma. She had heard stories about them around here. Her search was fruitless. There simply wasn't anything that would be useful against a great big vaguely human shaped blob of water. _What I wouldn't give for a flamethrower right now, or better yet some nicely trained mercenaries with flamethrowers and grenades._ Wishful thinking was not about to help Ranma and some part of herself was demanding that she do so. It was most frustrating. _Sure I care for the idiot, but since when did I care this much?_ She then thought back to Ranma's weird shifting to being a boy and the tuxedo. _Ranma is faster now? How? The Tuxedo looks a bit like that Tuxedo Kamen character I've heard about..._ She snickered. After all wasn't Tuxedo Kamen the true love of Sailor Moon? _Akane will just love to find out about this fiancée ._

A sudden thought occurred to her, if they were both doing the glowing and weird thing, and if Ranma could turn into.. _Saotome, how dare you drag me into your messes?_ To be fair, Nabiki hadn't forgotten that she was the one to ask him to come along, but well that was hardly the point. Still some part of her liked the idea of being a pretty soldier. _Power, control, greed. To the dark side these lead._ She promptly squashed the errant thought and briefly wondered when Yoda became her conscience. She got a little farther away and sat down behind a car. _Well if Ranma could do it, then maybe I can.._ She centered her thoughts and tried to feel anything different about herself. She focused on the need to be able to help Ranma and to prevent any more deaths. The last was important. No one deserved to have a family member die. She remembered the pain too well. She didn't know whether it took seconds or minutes since her sense of time began to scatter, but she heard it. It was an echo of herself, of a friend long lost now found, of a peace of the puzzle that links all the surrounding pieces to make things whole. She reached out with a mental hand and embraced it and suddenly every nerve in her body lit up as if she was the test dummy for an electric chair. She understood now.

* * *

Serenity had been watching the world for so long, and now that time was almost up. It would be her time for reincarnation soon. At least she got to see her daughter before she moved on, although she would do anything to change the reason for their meeting. She looked at the battle in progress, at the beginning that was unfolding as she watched. The shape of things to come was still largely uncertain, but she understood the true nature of the moon kingdom magic, unlike the edited version Setsuna eventually read about. In the beginning the magic was simple and obeyed the users will as intended, but over time it adapted and grew. The danger of linking it to the souls of its wielders, is that it learned and changed. Sometimes it shifted in seemingly unpredictable ways, yet in the end it had a purpose shaped from the souls and attitudes of the wearers. The true danger was not found until one of the elite guards accidentally killed her boyfriend when she caught him in bed with another woman. Her rage, had loosed the tenuous holds on her power and a fireball had launched from her ahead of her clenched fits. She saw it emerge and go forth. She tried to call it back, to stop it somehow but it was too late. 

Under truth spell it was soon proven that she, although very angry, had not wished even briefly for their death. Oh she would have delighted in their pain and misery at that brief moment of anger, but not what happened. The power had acted on its own. The power could not be trusted. The power was stripped from her and dispersed and she was set free. The records were sealed and no one else was given such power. The risks were too high. The other handful of elite guards kept their power. The moon kingdom could not afford to have their defenses weakened that much. Instead they underwent mental training to try to control their reactions. Discrete surveillance was setup to prevent any situations that might cause such a tragedy again. In time those few became the first subjects the mages and engineers used to develop the bindings and limitations that kept the magic safe. One surprise came during that time. Sara, the guard who was stripped of her power, regained it. The mages were at a loss to explain it, but suspected the removal left some tiny part behind and wondered if removal was even possible. Sara did not want to risk her power getting out of hand again and the mages could see no way to separate her from her power short of death because they had grown deeply intertwined. 

One particularly brilliant engineer mage had been working on a plan to create a controlling artifact to act to help control and regulate the power they were dealing with. He crumpled up yet another paper. "No matter what we make, the very nature of the magic will warp the construct over time. I begin to wonder in our arrogance in thinking we can tame such forces." Later that night he awoke and realized the solution. It was totally unacceptable of course, but it would probably work. 

Soon enough the then queen asked for his report. Sara and a few of the other guards were there. When Sara first realized that her magic was coming back she had offered to leave and never return, but Serenity insisted she remain in her position. 

"So you are saying there is no way, no way at all to make the magic safe?" 

He hesitated and started to speak, and stopped again. 

"Speak if you know something, then tell us." 

"My queen. The problem is the power itself warps and changes over time, making any structure created to manipulate the power itself subject to changes and unpredictability." He hesitated again and spoke slowly and quietly. "The only way I can think of to prevent this twisting is to put something in place that has a stronger, will and form, if you will, than the magic and the interactions of the others that is shaping it." He got even quieter. "Only a living soul, bound at the heart of the construct could have such power." 

Serenity avoided pondering the true implications of what he said for a few seconds and asked the obvious question. 

"How does that solve the problem? I thought the interaction with a person's soul is what created the instability and control problem in the first place." 

He continued a little louder than before, but with a slightly bitter tone, "It was, but in that case the linkages were tenuous since the soul had a body to operate and a life to life.. For this to work..." 

"someone must die and be trapped forever in a chunk of crystal." 

He nodded sadly to her conclusion. 

"I'll do it." came from Sara who had been standing back and to the right of the queen's throne. 

"I forbid it. The price is too high." 

And it was, for nearly four years it was, yet no better solutions were found and in the end new threats from outsystem made the need desperate. In the end the decision was taken out of his hands as she had used her own power to start the transference and had already performed the critical step by plunging the silver dagger with the crystal matrix fastened in its pommel into her own heart. It was already too late to save her. The only question was whether to finish the job or to deny her dying wish. He finished it. 

Having recalled the history of the power's creation she once again turned to the as yet unfinished battle as her mother's friend came up to sit beside her. 

"Hello Sara. How have you been?" 

"I am well, although I almost wish I could continue to be there for them." 

"You have done enough, and I think it has taken on a life of its own now." 

"But isn't that what we were trying to prevent all along?" 

"We didn't understand then, and I'm not sure we fully do even now, but I think we were trying to prevent a child from having the power to blow away buildings should its parents accidentally slip in their guardianship. I think, or rather I hope it has matured since then and can be trusted on its own now. Do not forget that you yourself have guided it and shaped it for millenia." 

"Most of that time was in a dreamless sleep waiting for your daughter to be reborn." 

"Still we must hope. What happened to Ranma seems a good sign." 

"What do you mean? It looks like he just got Tuxedo Mask's transformation." 

"No, its not that simple, and the Tuxedo is largely irrelevant anyway, although I must admit to being amused that he at least realizes the silliness of fighting in one. The important part is how it appears to have interacted with his curse. Balance had to be achieved, which meant incorporating the curses magic into its own. It could have left him male in his normal life and made him female when transformed. Given the amount of female based Senshi magic he absorbed, that was the most likely outcome." 

"But it was the opposite." 

"Yes. The magic chose this. A man and woman working together often complement each other, making the resulting team much stronger than simply their individual parts added together. When magic is added into the mix, it is even more true. It is more complex than that of course. We strive the hardest for those we care deeply about as my daughter demonstrated so many times." 

"There is also the fact that Ranma might have been reluctant to transform if every time he was forced to be a girl in a fuku." 

Serenity chuckled. "Yes that might have been a problem, but as it looks, it will be his only way to become male." 

Sara laughed as well. 

"Watch over them for me will you?" 

"Of course, my Queen. I wish I could do more than watch though." 

"We do what we can. For now I am going to visit with my daughter." She walked the few steps and pulled Sara into a hug. "Goodbye Sara. I am sorry to have never had a chance to get to know you better. You have my eternal gratitude for the sacrifices you made for our people. When Setsuna's time comes please give her my deep thanks as well." 

"Thank you, my Queen."

* * *

Author's Notes: I originally planned to write out the entire sequence of fighting and the rest, but that requires more thought. Then I decided to explain a little about the why of things and well that got bigger than expected. At any rate you'll have to watch for the next chapter to see how things turn out. Feel free to send me some ideas if you want. Very little is cast in stone yet. Having finally written my idea for the curses interaction, I am a little uncertain about it. It is original, as far as I know, but well the next chapter definitely requires some thought. 

I think in one of my other stories someone was concerned when I had Ranma have a thought like _If I were to marry..._ that it was foreshadowing or that he had already made a decision when it didn't quite fit the plot. Relax, it would be insane if Ranma didn't occasionally consider being married to the various women around him given how much pressure to marry he is under. Things take time. Relationships are hard. Rest assured that there will be no marriages in the next chapter of this fic either. Things are too new. Still it will be interesting to see what kind of team the Wild Horse and the Ice Queen make. If anyone sees corrections or just wants to tell me what they think, feel free to toss them into a review or email.

* * *

2005-04-01 


	4. Awakenings

Awakenings**  
Legacy of the Moon   
** by Lerris Smith

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma or Sailor Moon. 

Nabiki understood, at least in part. In an instant, thoughts and memories raced through her mind like a flood. A few left impressions and memories. She tried to focus, to save this precious information as it flooded through her consciousness, but the results were mixed at best. Still, some knowledge was better than none. Where Ranma had flailed blindly, she was able to pick and choose, at least in part.

Her clothes vanished as swirls of multicolored light crawled over her body. A form fitting black bodysuit appeared on her with silver edging. The top portion buttoned on the right side of her chest. The buttons matched the surrounding black almost exactly with only the silver edging standing out. Silver edging surrounded her waist and went down the sides of her pants. Black one piece boots with silver edging along the bottom appeared on her feet. Unlike the high heels common on the original scout uniforms, these looked very practical, while at the same time being stylish. Silver bracers with an intricate rune like design covered both of her forearms. Her hair lengthened till it touched her shoulders and darkened to a midnight black while at the same time her eyes shifted from a warm brown to a piercing gray. A silver tiara formed on her forehead that pointed slightly downward. Its center contained a single softly glowing blue sapphire about a centimeter in diameter. Finally the glow that was forming her clothing separated from her and coalesced into a midnight black staff that perfectly matched her height. Each end contained a dark blue sapphire inset so that only half of the gem was showing. A close look at the gems on the staff reveals a blue fire pulsing in sync with the sapphire in her tiara. As the magic faded that glow too faded.

Nabiki stopped to wonder how these memories could seem to be her own, when she knew she hadn't had them just moments before. This proved to be a mistake as the memories seemed to retreat and fracture as she continued to try to learn from them. She remembered how to transform and a little about staff work, and, perhaps most importantly, how to use the staff as it was intended to be used. She cursed briefly, that the least they could have done, whoever they were, was to give her the power to blow things up.

Nabiki ran back to the battle and was amazed at the speed she was moving. She pushed that thought aside as she saw Ranma still dodging sharp spikes of ice that seemed to form from the objects vaguely hand shaped appendages. She could see no damage to his tuxedo, but a partially failed dodge quickly explained that. It seemed the tuxedo immediately fixed any minor damage to itself. From the way Ranma was favoring his left leg it seemed likely that Ranma was not healing as fast as his clothes were. Nabiki cursed again. She wished there was someone she could sue for providing them defective powers.

Suddenly she had an idea how she might be able to help. It was an idea that she absolutely hated, since it left her very vulnerable. It was also the only idea she had. Nabiki cursed inwardly and yelled, "Ranma, get over here. I have a plan."

"Are you nuts? I can barely dodge this thing." Ranma dimly noted Nabiki's new clothes, eye, and hair, but they didn't seem very important compared to trying not to get killed. Still, a part of him noted that she looked very nice in that almost form fitting black and silver outfit.

"Just do it you moron!" Nabiki muttered quietly about macho martial artists as Ranma hesitantly moved towards where she had taken cover behind a van. She really hated this plan, and the really annoying part is she did not have time to explain it. Well, there was also the fact that she wasn't sure it would work, but it was best not to thank about that.

Finally Ranma got within a few feet of her. She swung her black staff towards him. As it got to withing about two feet of the tuxedo clad hero, the gems on both ends of her staff and the one in her tiara flared with blue light. Suddenly Nabiki seemed to be moving in slow motion, and so did the monster, but it seemed faster than Nabiki. Ranma briefly wondered just what was going on, but he could not stay here. Whatever plan Nabiki had would not be useful if she got killed. He shouted while running away, "I don't know what you had planned, but getting us killed seems a bad way to pull it off!" If one waited just a few seconds longer they could have seen an annoyed frown form on Nabiki's face.

Ranma still couldn't figure out what was going on. He was easily able to dodge the projectiles now. It was almost as if they were in slow motion. It seemed to have angered whatever it was since its attacks seemed to be coming a little faster and with almost no control or plan. _Am I faster now? Regardless, I better kill that thing and figure out the details later._ Once again he felt an irresistible urge to throw that stupid rose in his pocket at it. Seeing as no one was there to see, and well given the fact that he really didn't have a better idea, he plucked it out of his pocket with his right hand and grabbed ahold of the stem throwing the flower right at the monsters chest. He was surprised when the flower impacted like a dagger and seemed to blow away a chunk of the monsters substance. _Oh great I attack with flowers. I wonder which kami I annoyed today._ Lacking a less stupid attack, he kept withdrawing flowers from his inside pocket, where they magically appeared, and tossing them at the suddenly slow moving monster. _I can't believe the monster is moving so slowly, and its almost as if those knife like ice shards are barely moving through the air._ Some more of the monsters substance was obliterated yet it was still moving.

"Moko Takabisha!" yelled Ranma as a yellow ball of confidence ki emerged from his hands and sped towards the target. It was strange, it almost seemed that the ball slowed down as it approached the monster. Just as the ball was about to impact you could see an opening forming in what was left of the monster. It was too little, too late, as the ball impacted and obliterated the remains of the odd water monster. Ranma breathed a sigh of relief. He really wondered what Nabiki's plan was. He decided to go check on her.

Nabiki seemed to return to normal motion when he was a few feet from her. Nabiki stumbled a bit, and then caught herself before she could fall. In a weak voice she asked, "You got him?"

"Yes, of course. I'm the best after all. I'm not sure what plan you had, but well Ranma Saotome never loses."

Her voice started weak but grew stronger as she spoke. "You idiot! The 'reason' you didn't lose was because of me. The least you could do would be to thank me, but no I get to listen to you thump your chest like some kind of ape."

"Hey, I kicked its arse. I didn't see you there."

"The reason you kicked its arse is I placed a temporal field around you which effectively made you like three times faster." She again wondered just where her new found and annoyingly sketchy knowledge came from.

"Huh? Your saying you made me faster?"

"Yes, I was able to temporarily make you faster, but the only way I could hold it for any length of time was to provide myself as a balance, hence while you were three times faster, I was three times slower."

"Weird."

"Look we better get out of here. By the sounds of the sirens, emergency workers should be here any second, and explaining our presence is not going to help anyone."

Ranma looked around at the carnage surrounding the area. Fighting the monster had temporarily put it out of his mind, since his own survival was rather uncertain there for a time. "But I may be able to help."

Nabiki sighed. He was right. Ranma was far more skilled for these situations. So far, all she could do was a few tricks. Nabiki gave a half nod. "I know almost nothing about first aid, but I can probably manage to do that trick again, for a little while. Come back and get me when your done." She touched her staff to the tuxedo clad boy.

The gems flared and somehow Ranma knew that she had done it again. He smiled briefly at the short haired girl. The black outfit truly did look good on her, and seeing Nabiki tire herself out to help others seemed such a precious memory. He would have to be quick. He ran into the center of the clearing and looked around. He could see a few of the unlucky ones, or what was left of them. They certainly did not need rescuing. The sirens seemed to be very near now, yet the pitch shift down made it hard to be sure. He pushed the carnage away from his thoughts as he embraced the soul of ice. He dropped to the ground and quickly sat Indian style. What he needed to do would require a great deal of concentration, and to be honest, while he understood the theory he never had much luck making it work, except for people very nearby. He focused on his chi, using his confidence in his abilities, to build it to its highest level while keeping it contained. Suddenly a bright disc shaped band of yellow chi began to emerge from Ranma and fly rapidly away from the Tuxedo clad boy. The disc was imperfect with brighter and darker portions yet Ranma thought it would work. The emission lasted about six seconds in total.

Ranma tried to keep his mind as blank as possible. The echos would be weak. There was one and another and a third. No, the third was Nabiki. He waited a few more seconds, but nothing happened. Only two out of he wondered how many. Still the technique worked, as their chi signatures were too weak for him to sense normally. Fortunately, they were next to each other. He called his chi forth to once again strengthen his body and allow his speed to go beyond what most would consider normal. He almost didn't have to think about it now, except it was different somehow. He pushed the thought out of his mind as he rapidly crossed several blocks to come to where three cars had collided with each other. He didn't understand why the crash had occurred until he saw the pieces of ice not far away from where the cars were punctured in many places. _Two dead. Killed by what I dodged._ A part of him realized that he should feel something more to see all this death, but the soul of ice kept the regret and the sorrow a distant thing. He noted that the third car had what appeared to be a mother and her daughter in it.

The car was partially crunched by the impacts making it unlikely that any of the doors would open easily. Ranma jumped the remaining distance to get to the other side and grabbed ahold of the door only to rip the handle off.

Not far away, Nabiki sighed. While she didn't understand everything she remembered, she understood enough, for now at least. Temporal fields were always continuous. To put it in mathematical terms their gradients were always finite. Put more simply, sharp transitions in the flow of time were impossible. You could create local disturbances, but the more abrupt you tried to make the change, the harder it was and the more difficult it was to balance things. She suspected Ranma had grabbed ahold of something large quickly. Ordinary objects are linked to the normal temporal field. When Ranma pushed against a large object it caused the accelerated field around Ranma to be in conflict with the one from whatever he had come in contact with. It seemed the magic tried to compensate, by pulling more energy from Nabiki, but in the end Nabiki was too tired and that was the final straw. Hence Nabiki's semi noble action to help Ranma's search out, had perhaps saved about a minute in total. She hoped it was a useful minute.

Ranma, of course, noticed almost none of this other than the obvious change of the sirens resuming their normal pitch and seeing a bit more motion from the two inside the car. No, Ranma's attention was fixed on the people inside. The daughter was perhaps around ten years old with the mother in her mid thirties. Both were examples of traditional black haired Japanese beauty. The daughter had a nasty gash on her leg and was unconscious or sleeping. Fortunately it wasn't bleeding too badly. The mother had a puncture wound in her lower stomach. It looked like it might have gone through her kidneys and the blood loss alone made this very bad. _All because I couldn't finish this sooner, and now she is going to die._ He felt the soul of ice begin to crack. It allowed one to bury their emotions, but the stronger the emotion the harder it fought to break free.

The paramedics pulled up and headed his way.

"It doesn't have to be that way." came from a young woman's voice from no discernible location.

Ranma looked around. "What? Hey if you can help come here."

The paramedics looked at him as if wondering who he was talking to.

"Only you can hear me, and only this once. Will yourself back to your normal girl form and then focus on your desire, your need to heal her. You have always had the potential. Now you have the seed for how to use it. Concentrate and you will find the way. Goodbye and good luck Ranma."

"Goodbye Hotaru." He didn't stop to think how he knew the name.

"Step out of the way. We need to get to her."

Ranma didn't notice someone else was talking to him. The need to save her had become an all consuming focus for him. He willed himself to change back to his normal girl form, and surprisingly enough it happened with the fancy clothes vanishing and leaving her once again in her normal red and black combination. Without hesitation, she kneeled down and placed one hand over the wound and the other behind the woman's back in the same general location. Her actions seemed strange because they seemed to be almost automatic. Ranma's face took on the look of intense concentration. Her face was turned towards the wound, but no focus could be seen in her eyes. Suddenly a cool blue glow could be seen to form around Ranma's hands as it extended into the woman's body. Tears began to fall from Ranma's eyes as the soul of ice shattered, yet the glow remained even and steady.

"Hey. What do you think we should do?" asked the one paramedic.

"I saw that wound before she covered it. I remember Sailor Saturn healing some people before. This looks kind of like that. Regardless, I doubt we could do anything other than prolong her life a bit, so she died in a hospital. Lets help the girl."

"Right."

A quick bandage was applied to the wound and the girl was carried to the ambulance. The paramedics went back to look at Ranma and the girl's mother only to see the glow dim around Ranma as she fell slowly forward with her face pressed into the seat fabric and her arms sprawled out over the unconscious woman.

"What now?"

"We take them with us. Come on and give me a hand."

A very tired Nabiki looked on from around the corner. _Ranma healed that woman. I didn't know she could do that, but then, perhaps, that is new as well. Oh well, there is nothing more I can do here._

The pair loaded both Ranma and the woman into the ambulance as well. It was getting a little crowded in the back, but the closest other ambulance was a couple blocks away, and not worth the time to go to. Given the carnage, it was hoped that the other ambulances were able to find people alive as well.

"What should we write on the report?"

"We found an injured young girl, her mother, and another girl and brought them in for treatment of course."

"What about the glowing and stuff and wasn't there some guy there before?"

"Leave it out. If you were believed, you'd only be making that girl's life harder and I for one don't want to see people who can heal like that pestered. Who knows, it might be you she saves next time. If you aren't believed, it might end up helping to cost you your job. No, nothing good can come of those details."

The other paramedic nodded.

* * *

Nabiki willed her transformation away and was soon back in her normal clothes, hair length, hair color, and eye coloring. She almost regretted the change since the fatigue she was feeling seemed so much worse now. She trudged back to the house where they had come from. Some answers should be found there. She wondered if Dr. Tofu was still there. Somehow, she was sure they had been asleep for awhile given their changed clothes and how hungry she was. 

After about ten minutes of walking, she saw Dr. Tofu looking around as if searching for someone.

"Dr. Tofu."

Dr. Tofu turn around and saw her. "Nabiki, are you alright? We were looking for you. Well mostly me and the cats. Setsuna can't walk for long anymore."

"Setsuna? Oh you must mean the old woman who's house we were going to." Nabiki yawned as she got within a few feet of Dr. Tofu.

Dr. Tofu looked her over in a clinical manner. "Yes, thats her. Where is Ranma? Is he ok?"

"Oh, he had to be the hero. I think he is fine. Ranma was apparently exhausted helping out with the weird youma attack and they carted her off to the hospital."

"Ranma-chan was hospitalized? I should go check on her. Do you want to follow me back to the house and then take my car there?"

"Sure doc. Just don't expect me to walk too fast. I'm kinda tired." _The good doctor knows more than he has told. That much is obvious._ Nabiki mentally shrugged figuring that patience would reveal what she wanted to know. Still, she would have to find out soon, since waking up in a bed with Ranma Saotome might have long term repercussions. An Amazon and a sister came to mind..

* * *

They picked up Setsuna from her house and drove to Jubaan general hospital. It took them awhile to find Ranma, as they had filed her under Jane Doe since obviously the identification she had on her wasn't her own. 

Dr. Tofu walked in the door to see Dr. Mizuno checking the still unconscious Ranma's blood pressure.

"Hello Ann. I was sorry to hear about your daughter."

Dr. Mizuno turned abruptly to face Dr. Tofu. "Ono, oh um thanks."

Dr. Tofu went over and pulled his friend into a hug. She had married quite young, against her families wishes. It was perhaps as well that they did get married so young, because they had so little time together before she lost him, and now she had lost her only child. "If you need anything..."

"I'll call. Is this girl the strange young man you keep telling stories about?"

"Yes, that's Ranma." Dr. Tofu gave a wan smile. "How is she?"

"As near as I can tell she probably collapsed from exhaustion. I can't find anything else wrong with her, although it looks like she may not have been eating well recently."

Dr. Tofu looked over Ranma with his aura sight. Things seemed similar to when he had last looked upon her in Setsuna's bedroom. Setsuna walked carefully over to Dr. Mizuno while Dr. Tofu continued his examination. Dr. Tofu glanced her way, but returned to his examination. Some things were sharper, and a few were weaker, but everything seemed fine from what he could tell. "Yes, I think your right."

Setsuna let out a small involuntary sigh. How do you tell a mother about her daughter's death? It was not a question Setsuna was looking forward to answering, yet they deserved to know, and secrets be dammed. "Are you busy?"

"Actually, no. I was going to go home after I finished here."

"I knew your daughter. She was a good friend. I thought that perhaps you might want to talk for a bit."

"Why not?" she said in a bitter tone. "It is not as if I ever really had a chance to get to know her. I was always busy with work."

Dr. Tofu hated this kind of thing. He didn't envy Setsuna one bit. "You two go chat. Ranma should be up and around soon and I can watch over her until then."

Dr. Mizuno looked back at her friend and then over at Setsuna. Both had concerned looks on their faces. "Okay, but I expect to be told how someone with Ranma's constitution manages to exhaust himself to the point of collapse. It is bad enough what happened to my daughter and her friends. I couldn't bear to see it happen to another child."

Setsuna said simply, "okay" and walked out the door followed closely by Dr. Mizuno.

Nabiki waited until the door was closed before turning to the doctor. "Spill. Just what is going on?"

Dr. Tofu started to speak, but hesitated. Finally he said, "Ranma will wake soon and then we can go somewhere and talk about it."

* * *

Dr. Mizuno and Setsuna decided to go to Ann's house since Setsuna didn't know where Dr. Tofu would go when Ranma left the hospital and things were complicated enough as is. Ann made tea while Setsuna took a seat at the table. 

"So, tell me about my daughter?" Her words still seemed to take a frigid tone whenever she was forced to admit she didn't know her daughter as well as she might have wanted.

The doorbell rang. "I'll get it. It should be our dinner." came from Setsuna. Ann seemed a bit surprised, since she had not heard Setsuna order any food, but then she didn't remember much of the drive home either.

Setsuna came back in with several bags of food.

"Don't you think you over did it? I doubt the two of us could possibly eat so much."

"Well I wanted some variety since I wasn't sure what kind of food you liked, and you were a bit out of it in the car."

"Oh. Okay.. You were going to tell me about my daughter.." Her words were a bit less bitter then and a bit more hesitant. Setsuna had somehow managed to throw the doctor off balance which included her own self recrimination.

Setsuna smiled. "In a way I have known your daughter for a very long time, and I hope to meet her again someday."

"What are you talking about? My daughter is dead. I saw.."

"Do you believe in reincarnation?"

"I'm a doctor. I believe in science, although I certainly can't disprove reincarnation or anything."

Setsuna smiled. "You believe in science, and yet you just treated a boy with a magical curse."

"But that is different. Ono told me about him, and I've known Ono for years. He wouldn't lie."

"So you believe in things you see or that someone else you trust sees. Well, it is perhaps a little soon for you to trust me so much. Fortunately, I have proof." She paused briefly as if considering how to continue. "You see, I knew your daughter in the distant past."

Ann looked at the older woman skeptically. Anger began to creep into her thoughts at what she thought was someone playing with her and trying to prey on her daughter's memory. In a sarcastic tone she said, "You say you have proof. Let's see it now or get out! It is bad enough my daughter died in these accursed attacks this town is famous for.."

Setsuna continued in a cool almost kind tone. "Very well." She fished a blue crystal about an inch in diameter from her purse and placed it in the palm of her hand. It immediately began to glow a soft blue to indicate its readiness. "Grant Dr. Mizuno access to all collected records of Sailor Mercury for a week."

"Huh? Thats a neat toy you have there, but what does Sailor Mercury have to do with my daughter?"

"You will see. When I'm gone, ask the history archive to show you Sailor Mercury's first transformation." She set the crystal down and pulled a pen out to write something on the fast food box. "I should go, my number is on the box. Call anytime."

Setsuna picked up the one bag and walked out the door. Ann froze as if trying to make it all make sense. Somehow she knew and that scared her most of all.

Setsuna knew that Ann would use the crystal. She had the right to know. It was a risk, but one she could manage since she knew Ann would understand after she saw. She supposed she was getting emotional in her old age but she had eighteen years to think about it and the bottom line was that if it was her daughter she would want to know. Of course that still left the others families. She pulled out a cell phone and called the cab company she was part owner in. Her house wasn't that far, but it was still more than she wanted to walk. That bench seemed a good place to wait and the food was getting cold.

Ann felt a little guilty for not offering Setsuna a ride home, yet the crystal beckoned. She eat a few bites of Empress Chicken before saying, "Show me Sailor Mercury's first transformation." The history archive was a simple thing, and while Setsuna may have meant this reincarnation, the archive took her literally. Her chopsticks fell to the floor as half of her room seemed to disappear to show an elegant thrown room with crystal spires. The most startling thing was the young woman who shouted, "Mercury Star Power... Make Up!" The young woman was her daughter.

* * *

Ranma tossed in her sleep. "No, I aint gonna eat it. It's still moving!" 

Nabiki tossed her hot tea on the pig tailed beauty. She supposed the action was a little too Akane like for her taste, but trying to shake someone awake who could punch holes in concrete was not high on her list of stupid things she had to do today. She was disappointed to still see a very wet red head. "Uh oh."

"What did you do that for!" Ranma came to and looked around. _Nabiki. Tofu. Hospital. Check. Warm wet breasts. Oh crap._ "That was hot!"

"No kidding Saotome."

"I'm still a girl."

"What gave you the first clue?" said Nabiki. Ranma was so much fun to tease, although she was wondering why he was having trouble with his curse again. He was male not that long ago...

"You know what I mean. Dang it, I hate being stuck as a girl!"

An orderly came in and asked, "Is everything okay in here?"

Dr. Tofu mentally let out a sigh of relief that Ranma seemed to be taking it well. He turned to the orderly. "Yes, everything is fine. Ranma is just a little disoriented."

"Okay, well if you need anything just hit the call button."

"We will." The man went back out the door.

"If you feel up to it, why don't we discuss this somewhere else?" came from the doctor.

Author's Notes: I thought about writing more, but this is a reasonable stopping point. One thing that is yet to be determined is how to handle the various Nerima issues, or for that matter which to handle at all. We can't let Ranma's or Nabiki's life get too easy now can we? I also need to develop the bad guys and their plans to a much larger extent, although the point of the story is not defeating the bad guys, they are merely steps towards them dealing with their new unasked for heritage. For those who asked, no Ranma will not permanently be in an exact copy of Tuxedo Kamen's outfit. I'm not quite that cruel. I suppose the next thing to work on would be Kitten's Hope.

* * *

2005-06-02 


End file.
